Hi Ho Hi Ho...

...it´s off to work I go...

So most of you are probably still wondering, what do I do in site? Well I can proudly say that after 6 months, I finally doing what I came here to do: health promotion!

Peace Corps told us that we wouldn’t start working until 6 months, but I couldn’t believe it….I mean, what would we be doing for those first 6 months?? Well, I will tell you….we were getting to know our host family, and our host community by doing our community diagnostic and just participating in everyday activities. I celebrated Christmas and New Years at site, as well as the ever-so-famous Carnaval celebrations. I also learned how to make tamales, walk up the mountain to collect firewood, and work in the fields. While all of this wasn’t what I came here to do, it definitely helped me understand life here better, and also the people.

But now, I’m ready to get to work. After my parents left, I had made a 2 page to-do list of all the things I wanted to get accomplished. And when I said I was going to hit the ground running, I meant it…and haven’t stopped yet. I talked with a lot of people in town to start getting projects going, and I think things are finally coming together.

More progress has come out of this “Project Design and Management” conference in which I brought one of my counterparts in Lima. We learned how to make a vision statement, goals, objectives….down to the work plan and budget. It was a lot of information in 3 days, but it was worth it. My counterpart and I, along with Barbara and her counterpart, are going to be working on a project focusing on raising gardens and small animals in order to decrease malnutrition.

So here are some projects I’m going to be working on in the next year or so:

• Healthy School Project: I’m going to be going into the Primary schools (potentially three) training teachers and students alike on different themes of health (nutrition, washing hands, safe water, recycling/trash, self esteem, and dental hygiene)

• Youth Groups: I will be working in both the primary and high school in youth groups. In the bigger group, I’m going to be focusing on self esteem and leadership skills and hopefully training them to become health promoters. In the younger group, I’m going to be just working with basic health topics and playing games and activities.

• English Class: While it’s not my first choice, I’ve been asked to teach English in both the primary and high school. I’m going to be teaching the 5th grade in high school on Mondays and the 4th and 5th grades in the primary school twice a week.

• Tree Planting: The volunteer before me started a pine tree nursery, and the plants are now ready to plant. I got replacement seeds as well, so I’m going to continue that tree nursery.

• School Garden: The primary school has a small plot of land perfect for a school garden. Incidentally, it’s where the pine trees are right now. But once those are planted, we will work the land and plant radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, beans…a different vegetable for every grade. Meanwhile giving talks in the schools on how to prepare the land, how to care for plants, and how to make them grow.

• Small Animal Husbandry/Gardening project: With the help of Barbara and her counterpart, we are going to work on getting a grant for this project. Its focus is on decreasing malnutrition by teaching mothers with children less than 5 years old and pregnant mothers how to incorporate those local products in their diets.

So that’s the plan for now. There is definitely a lot on my plate now, which is what I wanted a few months ago. But now that it’s finally here, I’m almost wishing for the days when all I did was hang with the family…Funny how life is sometimes..